Circulation control means



Pi'il 11, 1939 H. s wHELLER 2,153,604

C IRGUL'AT 10N CONTROL MEANS Filed May 4, 1937 30 Je f4 44 ed INVENTOR Pianeti 11, 193e uuu-Eo STATES PATENT ori-ica '2.15am uncommon common MEANS nam sanrtwneuerrrmnbfm n. J. application may 4, 1931, sei-a1 No. 140,643

' a claims. gomeo-114) This invention relates means and particularly to that type in which air is forced by a fan through a heater and in which the air thus 'heated' is then discharged through enclosure. Heating devices of this general character have been, disclosed in Letters Patent No. 2,000,112 issued to Y me on May 7, 1935, and in *my copending application nled concurrently herewith. Such devices have arranged therein heating. means convenf tionally in the form of steam coils over which the air is circulated and thereby heated prior to its discharge from the heater. v

In the operation ofsuch heaters, the fan is often stop veither manually or automatically. at such times as the room or enclosure in which the device is arranged is brought to the desired l temperature. It will be recognized that a such time the steam or other heating medium will continue to circulate through the heater which remain therefore comparatively hot after the fan l is stopped. This results in the induction of air by convection through the I by the heating means in theseA devices coming in contact with the air. The unobstructed e through the heater therefore brings vabout a chimney `or stack effect which causes currents of hot air to circulate through the heater past the v motor with attendant possible damage thereto due to heating. In addition, circulation of .'air through the heater results in the wasteful condensation of steam occasioned by the'useless .4 effect upon the cessation ofl operation of the fan.

My invention contemplates the provision of dampers arranged in the heater between the heating coils and the motor, which dampers arearranged to spontaneously closethe air passages in the heater when. the fan stops, and which are opened x by the air forced through the heaterby the fan.

The various objects of my invention will be clear from the description which follows' and from the drawing in which Figurei is a front' elevation and partial section of my heater A eliminating dempers arranged in the casing.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary `enlarged view o'f somevv v interior of the casing together' provide in the es of the said to circulation control,

'Figures 1 known in the'art and which,

'to the specific structure illustrated. 'ro neat the ai; forced through the casing by .2

heater, occasioned jacentthe outer tip of .the fan,

' heated tubes showing the air convection' Figure 3 is a front elevation and partial section of a modified form of my heater.

Figure 4 is a sectional view along the line 4-4 of Figure 3. l

Figure 5 is a frontelevation and partial section 5 of a further modiiled form of my heater. Figure 6 is a partial front elevation of a still further m'odied form of my heater. In that practical embodiment of my invention which I have illustrated by way of example in l0 and 2 the heater casing I0 is preferably suspended 'overheadas. to the ceiling of a room in any desired position and in a manner well. therefore, need not be described in detail.- It lwill be'understood, l however, that my invention may be` applied to any type of heate as for example a floor or wall type, vand that I do not intend to limit myself the fan I2, the heating tubes Il are secured to the steam and return headers ii'and I8, which the casing as by means of the key plates 20, preferably welded to each end of theheaders.'v The headers may be drilled and 2l machined for the reception of the heating tubes I4 which are secured theretoby any suitable means, as for example by compression unions 22.

In order to increase the heating capacity of the tubes, a series of closely spaced at nn's 2| arranged preferably with their greatest dimensions in the direction lof air dow are heating by convection of the air `which merely tubes.

forced onto the One or more discharge outlets 26 may be provided,'through which the heated'air is dis imrged in a generallydownward direction. 1, Said 35 outlet 'or .outlets 26 communicate with the in-f terior of the casing I0 which serves as a e for the circulation of` air through the heater,

and are mounted thereon in any suitable manner. o A

The motor 28, which is secured as by mean of the arms 30 to the annular shroud 29 arranged addrives the ian l2. The motor is insulated by the crowmsheet Il from the heat which may be radiated from the 5 and is thereby protected againstY p ty oi' damage which might result from open. exposure to the heating tubes. 1

The annular shroud is supported on the-casing by the'sheet metal panels II` to which it is se- -50 cured as by means of the rivets il and which panels are preferably welded'to-the sides of the Itw'ill be apparent that the' outlet 20 and the 4 f 80 pivot rods 36.

2 i '2,153,604 heater a continuously open passage or stack tion the edges of the dampers'are arranged to through which air may circulate. meet to thereby completely close the interior pas-l When the fan vceases to operate, either by sage oi the heater to circulation of air theremanual or automatic means, the steam or other through.

heating medium continues to circulate through When the fan is operated, the air pressure the steam headers4 and the tubes remain at a against the greater surface of the damper exposed high temperature. 'I'he air adjacent the steam thereto forces the dampers to rotate about their coils vis heated thereby, rising by convection to pivot rods into the substantially vertical position the top of the casing and affecting thereby cirindicated by the dotted lines in Figure 3, there- 'lo culation of air upwardly through the interior by completely opening the interior of the heater of the heater. to circulation of the air therethrough.

The air thus heated by the steam coils and 'When the fan is stopped, these damperswill caused to circulate there past by convection conlikewise gravitate into closed position, the edges. denses the steam or cools any other heating 't4 of the dampers engaging an adjacent damper l5 medium fOllnd therein Such eenden-sation 01 to thereby arrest rotation of the dampers. about i steam 0r Cooling 0f the heating medium is Wastethe pivot rod and maintain them in closed posiful since the heated air rises to the ceiling of the tion, A

room or enclosure forming there a blanket or It win be understood, of course, that these layer of Warm Sir which Serves n0 useful heating dampers need not of necessity be arranged comed, lilullpose` but whichA may give rise t0` attendant pletely below the fan and I have accordingly ildiscomfort. lustrated' in Figure 5 a modiiicaton in' which In' eddltlOn, the heeted all Girelli-lates Past the these gravity actuated dampers are radially armotor with attendant possibility 0f damefge theleranged in the casing above the fan, but which t0 due t0 heating. are so positioned with respect to the motor as to In Order, therefore, t0 eliminate this stack 0r eliminate the chimney or stack enect and prevent Chimney eleet and the ttttendant wasteful C011- access of heated air'to the unprotected parts of densation oi' steam, I arrange in the casting l0 the motor above the crown sheet 'a plurality of dampers 3,4 which are hinsedly ni that modification, the gravity actuated supported t0 'the Casing Walls by means 0f the dampers 5t, which are likewise arranged in pivotal overbalance, are radially arrangedl in the These dampers are arranged when they are casing on-the pivot rods 58 which extend at one Y in the CIOSed `pnsitlen indicated ln Figure ,1i t0 end thereof into the circular wall tu of the heater completely cover the entire inner cross section casing yand at the other ond thereof into the vci the casing. 'Ihe dampers may be provided With crown sheet 62. The arrangement and operation an counter weights 38 at one Side thereof S0 that of the dampers 56, under the influence of the air they'are thereby made slightly out of balance. stream and gravity, is the same as that of the This provides a turning moment about the heretofore ydescribed and illustrated mediocapvot rod, causing the dampers to normally eravitions of my heater, and need, therefore, not he tate into closed position. I described again in detail.

40 When the fan is operated, the air blast there- Referring now to Figure 6J I, have therein i1- from will cause the dampers to rotate about the lustrated a further modification in which the pivot rods in a counterclockwise direction into dampers t# arranged to completely close the a the Open Position, indicated by the nrIOWS in heater interior passage may be automatically -Flgui'es 1 and 2,120 thereby provide an unrestricted operated by any other suitable means, such as 45. passage for the circulation of heated air downthe electric motor 66,

i wardly through the interior of the heater. The dampers 64 are xedly arranged on the When the motor is stopped, the dampers, Since pivot rods ttwhich are rotatably secured to the the gravitational moment of the dampers about' end' walls of the heater easing. A11 of the pivot the DlVOt IOfls is' restrained by the all' blast, Will Vrods 68 vare operatively connected by means of l 50 be urged by gravity about their DlVOtS lntO fully the links I0 to the actuating arm l2, the reciproclosed positlOn, the lugs 40 extending from ari cation of which, under the influence of the motor -end wall of the casing 42 arresting rotation of to which it is operatively connected in any well the dampers and maintaining them stationary in known manner, for example by a rack and gear,

closed position. will rotate the dampers into fully open or fully l 55 The dampers are arranged in the casing in poclosed position. l sitions parallel to each other so that upon the Operation of the motor in either a clockwise or dampers moving into closed position the edges counterclockwise direction to fully open or close thereofwill meet-and entirely close the linterior the dampers 84, may be effected by any suitable cross ,section oi the casing so that the draioc switch 14 well known in the art and which, there- "B0 casioned by the chimney or stack eil'ect .oi the fore, need not be described in detail here.

heating tubes, Outlets and Casing is completely 'I'he switch 14 is connected to the electric cireliminated. l cuit operating the-fan motor, by conventional wir- Refelllng nOW t0 Figures 3 and4, I have thereing 16,'so that when the electric circuit operating in illustrated another embodiment of my inven the fan motor is opened to stop that motor, the

, A is simultaneously in the casing to provide a circular passage for the caused to operate the dampers t airl through the casing. "The ldampers M are interior, hingedly secured closely adjacent one edge 45 When the fan motor circuit is closed to'operate thereof by meansof the pivot rods Il, which the fan, the switch 'I4 is arranged to simul- 70 extend at 'one end thereof into the circular wall tanepuslyoperate the damper actuating motor to of thelcasing and at the-otherlend thereof intov` rotate the dampers into fully opened position.

o close the heater hydraulic or vapor motor or solenoid and the like.

It will be seen'that 1 have provided a simple,

inexpensive means for eliminating the induction of air throughthe interior of the heater when operation of the fan is stopped, resulting in a more emcient heating device by prevention of wasteful condensation of steam on cooling of the heating medium in the heating coils.

While I have specific examples of my invention, it will be understood that such examples are illustrative and l through the passage, a plurality of pivot.rods

` air circulating means radially arranged in the passage androtatable therein, a damper secured at one edge thereof to each pivot rod whereby air circulated by the said rotate into a vertical position, said dampers, upon discontinuing circulation of the air through thepassage, arranged to gravitate about the pivot 'or the dampers. engagingv each passage.

' lthe passage and shown and described certain air circulated by position, said dampers,

will urge the dampers to rods into a, horizontal position, the adjacent edges other to thereby maintain the dampers in position to closesaid 2. In a heater, a casing provided with apas! vsage for the circulation of air therethrough,-

ineans for circulating air through the passage,

a p1urality of pivot rodsarranged transversely in rotatable therein, dampers eccentrically secured to each pivot rod whereby the said air circulating means will urge the dampers to rotate into a vertical culation of the air through the passage, arranged to gravitate'into a horizontal position, the adjacent edges oi the dampers engaging each other to thereby maintain the dampers'in position to close said passage f 3. In a heater, a casing provided with a passage `for circulating air therethrough, means for circulating air through the passage and a plurality of dampers eccentrically pivoted transversel'y in the said air passage whereby air circulated by the said air circulating means will urge thedairipers to rotate into vertical position, said dampers arranged to gravitate into a horizontal position, upon discontinuing circulation of air through the passage. contiguous edges of adjacent dampers engaging to maintain the dampers in passage-closing position.

HARRY STEWART WHELLR.

upon discontinuing cir' 

